The Bet
by 4ElementGirl
Summary: Arnold challenges Helga to a bet: be nice for a week. If she breaks it, she reveals a certain secret. If she actually wins, he has to reveal a certain secret of his. Can you guess? *COMPLETE*
1. A Bet To Remember

**Another new story by 4ElementGirl! Read at your own enjoyment...**

**WARNING: WRITTEN WHEN I WAS 12-13 YEARS OLD AND EXTREMELY CORNY, IF NOT PREDICTABLE**

**After FTi, before TJM. All chapters are typed out, just a matter of posting them.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own HA!**

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Another day starts at P.S. 118. Let's zoom into the fourth grade class where a girl named Helga G. Pataki is sitting in the back, shooting spitballs at a very annoyed Arnold...what's his last name? *whispers* Oh, right, Shortman. Arnold Shortman in the front. Every once in a while he turns to the front and gives her an annoyed glare, like usual, and to which she responds with a "What?" and a scowl. Arnold turns around once again,enduring the spitballs for another class trying to pay attention to the class, yada yada yada, let's move on already.

So now we speed to the future, which in this case, is recess, where we have the 4th grade boys and a few girls. Helga, of course, was among them.

And now our story finally begins...

"I bet you can't go one hour without eating!" Gerald said, grinning.

"Aww, I'll starve!" Harold whined.

"In case you don't know, we just had lunch ten minutes ago, lard boy," Helga said, sitting on the monkey bars.

"I know, but I'm still hungrrryyy!"

Helga rolled her eyes. "Criminy, you're always hungry. What else is new?"

"My dare for Arnold!" Gerald exclaimed.

"Oh, brother, this should be good," Helga whispered to Pheobe, earning a chuckle from her.

"Arnold, I dare you to take off your hat for 30 seconds."

A chorus of 'ooohh' and 'ahh's were heard from the crowd. This was a rare, if not impossible moment that Arnold would willingly take off his hat in the open for all eyes to see.

"So are you gonna do it or not, football head?"

Slowly, Arnold took off his hat. A few gasps followed.

_A daring move, my love..._

"Ha! Time him Pheebes. I want to see if the football-headed geek can manage a half minute without his hat. That'll be the day!"

_Oh my beloved, why must such cruel words be heard by your ears?_

A mix of emotions stirred in Arnold- shock, annoyance, anger, slight sadness and determination.

"3,2,1 ," Pheobe said, counting down the last of the seconds, followed by Arnold putting on his beloved baby-blue hat.

_Of all the things to let Helga slide on, this is the last._

"Hey Helga, I have a dare for you."

"Huh, Arnoldo has a dare for me." she jumped from the monkey bars. "Bring it."

"My dare is..." He pretended to ponder, "...is for you to be nice to everyone for a week."

Her emotions jumped from shocked, confused, angry, throughtful, and finally settled on a scowl.

"Do you really think I'm gonna go along with your stupid dare?" she

"Only if you think you can't take it." Arnold said with a rare smirk.

"What do you mean, 'if you think you can't take it?'" she responded angrily.

"I'm just saying, it might be a little hard for you to cope, being nine to everyone, everyday for the next week."

Helga scoffed. "Hard? Please. This bet is soo easy a baby couldn't think of anything better."

Arnold's mind pondered in thought. "And if you lose, you'll have to reveal **the most** embarrassing secret of yours."

Ooh's were heard from the crowd.

Helga thought for a few moments.

"And you too if I win."

The football-headed boy was slightly taken aback, but remained clam.

"Deal." they both said in unison, shaking hands.

The bell rang.

"Great, now outta my way...er, I mean, after you, Arnoldo...heh, heh," she said, quickly recovered, almost destroying her side of the bet.

_Watch it, Helga o' girl! You were **this **close to blowing it and only one step away from the darkest secret of your life revealed! FOCUS!_

"Gee, thanks Helga!" he said with a smirk, walking in with Helga behind him.

"Err...whatever football head."

_This is going to be a long week for her_, he thought, still smirking.

What he didn't notice was the big smile on Helga's face.

_This is gonna be great! The perfect chance to win Arnold's affections if I play my cards right..._

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**_What do you think? If you like it and you know it, please review!_**


	2. No Problem To Take

**Here's chapter two...**

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The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. Not one spitball hit Arnold's head, no sadistic comment, nothing. Helga did, however, talk about 'ice cream' with Pheobe.

"Can you believe the football head came up with the dare? I have half a mind to pound his head flat!"

"Well, Helga, you can think of it as a good opportunity to let your entire personality show."

"My entire personality is hidden for a reason, Pheebes."

Pheobe sighed and continued her work.

"But... it WOULD work as a good experiment to see how the hairboys and everyone else would react..." she trailed off with a smirk.

Pheobe giggled. "That's the spirit, Helga!"

Meanwhile, Arnold and Gerald glanced over to Pheobe and Helga's conversation, and started their own.

"Man, I can't believe you came up with that dare. It's genius!" Gerald grinned.

"I don't know. Then why do I feel so guilty?"

"Ahh, you'll get over it. Besides, enjoy now, feel guilty later. Because we all got a public 'no bullying' pass for a week because of you. You're like the class hero!"

"I thought I was, in a way."

"You are, for being the king of 'the golden rule' and 'the Messiah' and all that. But now, you'll be remembered in more ways than one: for being the boy who not only doing the right thing, but for silencing the 4th grade terror for a full week! This will be great!"

"You know what? This is great. Let's see if she can go a full WEEK without falling apart!" Both boys chuckled to themselves, not knowing Helga had eavesdropped them.

_So, the football head doesn't think I could be nice? Time for a surprise, my football-headed love._

Shortly after the bell rang, everyone started testing Helga's patience.

"Oh look, It's Hellllggga, and her girly little pink dress!" Harold taunted, as everyone gathered.

Under any normal circumstances, she would have loved to punch his face in. But with the whole bet that 'she couldn't take it', plus her 'nice vow', she gave him a response he never expected...

"Well, Harold, we're all different in our own ways, and that makes us unique. I have my pink dress, and you have your blue hat. You shouldn't make fun of other people. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow."

She gave him her best smile, and quickly left, leaving him to scratch his head in confusion, along with many others.

******MEANWHILE******

"Man, there are SO many ways we can get Helga back now, since she practically can't do anything!" Gerald grinned as he jumped on Arnold's red couch. "I've got so many revenge plans in my head, it's not even funny! And on top of that, she's stuck in nice mode!"

Arnold gave a small smile that the last statement, a little shocked that he didn't think Helga could acutally pull it off. But soon, a look of worry and apprehensiveness crossed his features.

"You do realize that after the bet is over, she's free to beat everyone up, right?" Arnold said, a little disappointed she would go back to her former ways.

"You worry too much. She'll probably snap before the week is over. And if possibly, by some wicked turn of fate, some **miracle**, that she doesn't, she forget anyway."

"She's not Harold, you know that, right?"

"I know, but her long term memory isn't that strong, either."

"You have no idea how off you are, Gerald..." Arnold muttered to himself.

"What was that, Arnold?"

Quickly shaking his head, Arnold responded with a 'no'.

"Whatever you say, man...whatever you say."

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**Do you like? Review if you do! :)**


	3. Some Surprizes

**Chapter 3 now...**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it.**

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**Later that day...**

Arnold lay on his bed, his mind spiraling with thoughts of none other than Helga G. Pataki.

_Why did I come up with that bet? I mean, I wanted her to be nice, to actually see her be nice to everyone. I was sick of her teasing me so I guess I wanted to see a different side of her for a change. And It's working pretty well. At this rate, she'll know why I did this._

**THE NEXT DAY...**

"It's girly girl Helga!" Harold taunted as she walked past.

"Harold, didn't we have this conversation yesterday? I don't think you should tease others." Helga said, waving her hand to dismiss him as she went to her locker.

Harold scratched his head in confusion.

Pheobe looked at her, impressed. _I always knew she could do it, _she thought with a smile.

"Uh, Helga?" Arnold asked, going to Helga's locker.

"Hey football head. So, what's the big secret that you're gonna tell?" she said, a smile-smirk on her face.

"What do you mean, Helga?"

"Are you forgetting? The winner has to reveal a secret of theirs." she pulled a few books from her locker.

"But the bet's not over."

"It might as well be. I've got to go. See ya in the funny papers."

_I wasn't mean to him. I actually managed to have a decent conversation with him. Oh man, Arnold, you better have a juicy secret to tell, cause I'm NOT blowing this up, _Helga smirked, walking to class.

_Helga was actually nice? To me? Of course she had to, for the sake of the bet. But still... _Arnold thought, walking into class.

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"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think she can actually pull this off! I mean, she's nowhere near sugar sweet, but she hasn't snapped yet either!" Gerald said as Helga walked into the classroom and sat down for the final class of the day.

Arnold looked over to her in annoyance, disappointment, and sadness.

"I thought the bet was to be nice!"

"Man, she IS being nice...for Helga, anyways. At this this rate, I think the only one revealing any secrets will be you, my friend." he said, nudging his friend.

Arnold gulped.

"Come to think of it, I don't believe I know any of your embarrassing secrets."

"Ha ha, what do you mean? You know plenty of embarrassing stuff about me," Arnold responded nervously.

"Like what?"

"Uh...there's...no. But..." Arnold trailed off, unable to answer.

"Exactly my point."

"Well, there's nothing I know about you!" Arnold hurriedly said, trying to change the subject.

Gerald looked back, offended. "You know the bicycle secret-"

"Everyone does."

"Because of Harold. And how Jamie O. treats me like a maid, not to mention how I have to play dress up with Timberly. If that isn't embarrassing, I don't know what the meaning of the word is. So when are you gonna tell me YOUR secrets?"

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Arnold was the first one out. Gerald, though, caught up to him.

"What's wrong with you man? Why are you so afraid to tell me one of your secrets? Don't you trust me? "

"I do trust you, Gerald... It's just...This is really important to me. You can't tell anyone."

"Arnold, when have I EVER told one of your secrets?"

"Good point... I'll tell you. My most embarrassing secret is...that..."

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**It's short, I know. The next chapter will be up soon enough, hopefully. Review please!**


	4. A Bit Unexpected

**Ready for the secret? Thanks for all reviews!**

**Chapter 4 now...**

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**In Arnold's room...**

"My most embarrassing secret is that...my first kiss was with Helga Pataki," Arnold tried to lie.

Gerald gave him an annoyed glare. "Are you serious?"

Arnold looked away from him.

"Arnold, I'm your best friend. First of all, I know you're lying. Second of all, that's not a secret. Everybody knows."

"They do?"

Gerald almost face-palmed.

"Arnold, is your head working? Everybody knows! The school play we had? Ring a bell to you?"

Arnold nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'll tell you. But not here...at my house, ok?"

"Fine, but don't try to lie again, okay?"

Arnold sighed. "Ok. But promise not to freak."

"I'll try."

**! #$%**

"Ok, Arnold, lay it out for me." Gerald said, sitting on the red couch.

"Well, Gerald, over the past couple of months, I realized that I have feelings for someone." Arnold said, sitting on his bed.

"Who's it this month?" Gerald asked playfully, looking over to Arnold.

"I'm really serious, Gerald."

"Sorry. Continue."

"Ok and this girl...she's had feelings for me for a really long time..."

Gerald nodded for him to continue.

"And...well, I love her too." Arnold quickly said, blushing.

"Ooh. So who's the lucky girl?"

Arnold gulped. "You promise not to laugh?"

"Promise."

He took a deep breath. "It's Helga G. Pataki." He closed his eyes, expecting howling laughter.

"Arnold, are you ok?"

"What? Yeah I'm fine." Arnold continued, confused.

"Because I just heard you say that you loved Helga."

"Gerald, I'm not kidding. I really do love her."

Gerald looked at Arnold hard and carefully, trying to find any hint of laughter or lies, anything.

"You love Helga?"

He nodded.

"Helga, as in Helga G. Pataki?"

"How many Helga's do you know? And yes I really do love her."

Gerald looked at him as if he had three heads.

"And she loves you back?"

"Yeah..." he responded, a small lovesick look on his face.

"When exactly did this happen? When you got soaked with water from the water fountain, or had feathers stuck to your butt? he attempted to say as calmly as possible, with a hint of disbelief.

Arnold snapped back to normal. "The neighborhood. She helped us, Gerald."

There was a moment of silence.

"You are one bold kid, Arnold."

"I know that. And I'm going to tell her tomorrow."

"Arnold?"

"Yeah, Gerald?"

"Isn't the bet over in three days? Just tell her then!"

"Oh, right, that makes sense." He smiled sheepishly.

Gerald sighed, rolling his eyes. _In love or not, he's still the same Arnold._

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**Review please! Sorry for shortness. Next chapter, most likely the last one.**


	5. An Ending to Remember

**Last Chapter! Now to the people of honor ( "+" are separators!) :**

**+MorganTaylorM3 +Nep2uune +hydeandjackieforever20 +ShinkuXJun + Ashlee +desired-hanyou-aly**

**+Hanna Cabrodi +Fringe Fan +acosta perez jose ramiro +loonytunecrazy +morganterry601 +Myriamj**

**+Kirei Tsuki +SweetMicki13 +Lena2244 +sunlight1299 +JupiterSun11 +YuniX-2 +Orkidea16**

**...I thinks that's everyone. Thanks you all soooo much :)**

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**FRIDAY...**

The P.S. 118 gang gathered up on the monkey bars and surrounding equipment for the conclusion and the person who would reveal their secret: Arnold.

"Well, well, well, football head. It seems like I've won your stupid bet. As if I couldn't. Now, what's the juiciest, most embarrassing secret?" Helga said, looking down on Arnold from the top of the jungle gym.

Arnold gulped nervously, looking up at her. Gerald patted him on the back.

"Good luck buddy. You'll need it."

Arnold rolled his eyes. _Thanks for the vote of confidence, Gerald._

"Well, Helga, are you sure you want to know?"

"I wasn't nice to these losers for no reason, football head." Angry murmurs were heard from the crowd of 4th graders, earning a ''pipe down!'' from Helga.

"What's the secret?"

"Come on, spill already!"

"I'm just _dying_ to know."

"I'm hungry!"

"Arnold...are you sure you want to do this?" Gerald asked.

Arnold nodded. _This is it._

"Helga, my biggest secret is...is...that..." He took a deep breath and sighed, climbing to the the top of the jungle gym, sitting next to her.

"This."

He cupped her cheeks, pulled her closer, and kissed her.

Most of the fourth graders stood in shock, with Phoebe smiling, Rhonda almost fainting, Sid shouting "Boy Howdy!", Harold's jaw almost hitting the floor, and Gerald just sighing.

_He is one BOLD kid..._

As their lips snapped apart, Helga looked at Arnold with happiness and joy with mixed confusion and shock.

"In case you didn't know, Helga...I love you."

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**And that is the end of my story! Hope you enjoyed this installment and thanks for reading! Review!**

**Remember...this was written a couple of years ago, before I joined FF.  
**


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